In a data management system for managing data of a deliverable such as a document created in a development process of a product, there is a system in which a folder that is the storage destination of the deliverable, may be defined in advance. For example, the storage destinations of the deliverables that are assumed to be created in the respective stages of the development process, are defined in advance by a system administrator.
The person in charge of development creates a deliverable corresponding to a storage destination defined in advance as the development process proceeds, and stores the deliverable in the storage destination. By repeating such an operation in the respective stages of the development process, it is possible to manage the deliverables, such that it is easily recognized that the deliverables needed for development are created without any omission.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-182908
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8-292884
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H3-46059
There are cases where the relationships between the storage destinations and the deliverables are set, in accordance with the connections between development operations and the connections between the components of the product. By setting relationships between the storage destinations and the deliverables, the following advantage is obtained. That is, when a problem arises in a certain component such as a failure, the range of impact and the factor of the failure are easily recognized by tracing along the connections set for the deliverable relevant to the component.
Conventionally, there is provided a method of tracing back along the connections one by one, starting from a certain data item of the deliverable, or a folder of the storage destination. This method is effective in confirming the connection with respect to a single deliverable or a single storage destination; however, it is inefficient for checking the connection between a certain data group or folder group and another data group or folder group.